The following background discussion is not an admission that anything discussed below is citable as prior art or common general knowledge. The documents listed below are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference to them.
Single serve capsules for use in beverage preparing machines are becoming increasingly popular. Such capsules come in a variety of formats for producing beverages such as espresso coffee, drip coffee, tea, hot chocolate or soup broth.
There are two primary categories of beverage preparing machines; (i) high pressure machines typically used for preparing espresso and (ii) low pressure machines typically used for preparing drip coffee (filtered coffee), tea or hot chocolate.
Low pressure machines typically include a brew chamber that supports the capsule while a fluid (typically hot or cold water) is injected into a chamber within the capsule containing ingredients for preparing the beverage (such as ground roasted coffee). The fluid flows through the chamber and typically through a filter prior to being dispensed by piercing a lower portion of the capsule to permit the prepared beverage to flow into a user's cup.
One problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that the cover of the brew chamber tends to partially impede easy access for loading and removing capsules.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that the orientation of the brew chamber and the fluid injection nozzle does not provide for optimum mixing and saturation of the beverage ingredients.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that the orientation of the brew chamber and the dispensing probe does not provide for optimum dispensing of the prepared beverage from the capsule.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that the plumbing is not adapted for providing a mix of hot and cold or ambient fluid to the injection nozzle.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that they do not have the ability to introduce air into the capsule independently of the brewing sequence in order to produce additional foam or crema or to otherwise modify the beverage characteristics where this may be desirable.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that they do not provide the user with the ability to “top up” their beverage by dispensing an additional volume of beverage following the completion of the brewing sequence.
Another problem with conventional beverage preparing machines is that they are not provided with a re-useable capsule configured to work with a fluid inlet nozzle that is offset from the central axis of the capsule to optimize the mixing and wetting of the beverage ingredients.
There is a need for a machine that overcomes the problems with conventional beverage preparing machines such as one or more of the problems identified above.